


How To Say

by Owlship



Category: Bumblebee (2018), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Charlie Lives With The Autobots, F/M, Fluff, Love Confessions, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Other, Post-Canon, Robot/Human Relationships, bumblebee is the softest boi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-17
Updated: 2019-03-17
Packaged: 2019-11-21 12:57:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18142487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Owlship/pseuds/Owlship
Summary: She starts to get suspicious the third time they're interrupted during what was supposed to be a quiet night in, Bumblebee buzzing angrily as he responds to a com message from Optimus about possible Decepticon activity. Charlie pauses the movie and watches him curiously; saving the world is sort of the whole reason he and the others are here, so she doesn't quite understand why he's acting like it's a huge inconvenience all of a sudden.





	How To Say

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt on [tumblr](http://v8roadworrier.tumblr.com/post/183460982726/i-have-recently-began-to-read-your-fandom-works)!

She starts to get suspicious the third time they're interrupted during what was supposed to be a quiet night in, Bumblebee buzzing angrily as he responds to a com message from Optimus about possible Decepticon activity. Charlie pauses the movie and watches him curiously; saving the world is sort of the whole reason he and the others are here, so she doesn't quite understand why he's acting like it's a huge inconvenience all of a sudden.

"We'll watch this another time," she reassures him, popping the tape out of the VCR to make sure he knows she won't watch without him.

But Bee sends her an unhappy look, crouching down next to the beat-up couch that's the only furniture in the room which is human-sized (if discretely reinforced for the weight of metal bodies). " **I'll** be _back_ ," he says, radio dial spinning with more force than necessary.

"Okay, sure," Charlie agrees. "I'll wait up for you?"

His gaze softens, and he nods.

She smiles at him and makes a shooing gesture. "Go, kick Decepticon butt. Wake me up if I'm napping when you get back in."

Bumblebee stays crouched where he is for another moment, until his com beeps again, Arcee's voice coming through to ask what's taking so long. Then he lets out a gust of air almost like a sigh and stands up, leaving Charlie alone in the room.

Ratchet will probably be left on base, if no one else, but she doesn't go seeking out company. She turns the TV away from channel 3 and finds some mindless show instead, curling up underneath a blanket and trying not to think about the dangerous situations Bee charges into.

 

It's late when he returns, dusty but undamaged. Charlie sits up from where she was sprawled across the couch and stretches, yawning out a greeting for him.

Bumblebee's wings and antenna twitch as his eyes smile.

"Finish saving the world?" she asks.

" _We can beat them, forever and ever, oh, we can be heroes just for one day_ ," he plays for her in answer.

Charlie smiles. It isn't really all that late, so she asks, "You wanna finish that movie tonight?"

He shakes his head, and without elaborating transforms into his car form, driver's side door held open, engine revving.

"Oh?" she says, getting up from the couch obligingly. "You got plans, Bee?"

He flashes his headlights and waggles the door, and Charlie climbs in. It's a good thing that the base is build to accommodate Autobots in all their forms, she thinks; the doors are all motion activated, and the hallways are plenty wide for him to race down.

Bumblebee plays a few songs over the radio as he drives them... somewhere. She's not entirely sure where they're headed, but she trusts him; and she sings along, opening the windows to let the cool night air blow through her hair.

"Can you take the roof down?" Charlie asks, and in answer Bee folds the metal in ways that no car is supposed to be able to, turning his Camaro shape into a convertible.

She grins and stands up in the seat- there's no one around for miles to see if she has her hands on the wheel or not- and holds onto the top of his windshield, feeling like she's almost flying.

A Van Halen song starts playing over the radio and Charlie daringly lifts her hands off the windshield to raise them in the air, screaming along to the music, hoping Bee enjoys the ride at least half as much as she is.

" _And I can't recall any love at all, baby this blows 'em all away_ ," Bee's radio sings, loud enough to compete with the wind blowing by her ears.

She laughs, giddy with the rush, and after a sharp corner nearly makes her lose her balance, she collapses back down into the seat.

" _You want it straight from the heart, oh tell me why can't this be love_?"

"You have any destination in mind?" she asks when the song fades out.

" _We don't need another hero, we don't need to know the way home_ ," he replies, which isn't much of a reply.

"Fine," she says, and pats his dashboard. "Keep your secrets."

He starts playing another song, U2 this time, and she sings along but her heart isn't in it. It's funny, she thinks, how many songs focus on love.

They pull off the paved road and Charlie braces herself as Bee charges roughshod over the dirt path, finally pulling to a stop at a little clearing, the ground giving way to a steep- if fairly short- cliff. It's just enough height to give a grand view, the lights of a faraway city below competing with the stars above.

Bee transforms out of his car shape before she has a chance to climb out onto her feet, so she's folded up in his arms when he's finished.

"This place is beautiful," she tells him honestly, leaning back against him, his metal body radiating heat from the drive over.

"Charlie," he says, and she thinks, not for the first time, what a shame it is that she'll probably never hear her name spoken in his actual voice.

"Yeah?" she says, twisting around in his embrace to look up at him.

He leans his head down to meet hers, pressing their cheeks together, the glow of his eyes cut off as he closes them.

" _If you wanted to leave me, and roam, when you get back_ ," Bee croons, " _I'd just say, welcome home, 'cause honey, nothin', nothin', nothin' can ever change this, love I have for you_."

"Is that Sam Cooke?" she says, before she realizes what the lyrics had actually _said_.

Charlie squirms out from his arms, taking a careful step away. His antennae droop, eyes opening to look sadly at her.

"Bee?" she says, fingers digging into the pockets of her shorts. It's cold, suddenly, her skin prickling with goosebumps. "I, uh, don't know how they do it on your world, but here you don't usually sing love songs to your friends."

He whirs quietly, and holds out one of his hands. Charlie wraps her hand around one of his fingers, the metal not as cool as she'd expect, considering the night air.

" _You've captured my love, stolen my heart, changed my life_ ," Bumblebee sings to her.

"I know it's easier, but I think I need you to stop with the music," Charlie says.

His antennae twitch, mechanics whirring and buzzing quietly. "You _make me_ \- I feel. **Charlie**. I love you," he says, voice wavering all over the place as he finds his words.

She pulls her hand away from his, wrapping her arms around her chest. "I don't know what to say," she says after a moment, too stunned to be thinking clearly. Does he mean he loves her as a friend? Or does he mean... How _can_ he mean anything else, when they're completely different species?

Bumblebee places his hand over his chest, eyes staring into hers. "My _S_ p a **r** k _reaches for_ yours."

She licks her lips. Sparks are like Autobot souls, as far as she's been told, and that definitely doesn't seem like a friend thing to say. "You're saying you have feelings for me," she says. "Romantic type feelings."

He nods.

"Oh," Charlie says.

He buzzes nervously, eyes searching her face.

It takes her a few moments to decide how to react, it's true. Part of her is cheering in joy like the lovestruck teenager she is, but another part is pointing out how ridiculous this is. Yes, he's a sentient being and all, but he's a _fifteen foot_ tall _alien_ made out of _metal_ who _turns into a car_. To say that their species have a few differences is seriously underselling the point.

"I think," she says, shifting her weight nervously at what she's about to confess. "I, um. I've never felt this way for anyone before, but I think. Yeah. Same."

Bee lets out a chirping sort of noise, antennae raising and wings quivering.

"That's why you've been getting annoyed at missions and whatever lately," she says, glancing around the scenic lookout they're standing at. "You've been trying to get us alone together, haven't you?"

He nods, and reaches out his hand again. She lets him close his fingers around hers in return, stepping closer to him. With him standing straight she only comes up to about his middle and it's awkward, but he moves to kneel down, and that helps.

Charlie wraps her free arm around his shoulders, and presses a kiss to the side of his face.

He whirs happily, and she smiles.

"We're going to have to take this slow," she says, "I don't think either of us know what we're doing. Do Autobots even ever date other species? I think this is a first for humanity, anyway."

Bee shrugs a shoulder in answer, then moves to lightly brush the plating covering where his mouth would be against her cheek in return, and her smile widens to a grin.

"Let's just look at the stars for a while?" she suggests. "You can play whatever you want on the radio."

He settles down onto the ground and Charlie climbs into his lap, tugging at his arm until he wraps them around her in a hug. From out of his radio the strains of a new song play, soft and heartfelt.


End file.
